Cory, Dusty & Little Angel Part II

Here is the Photo fixed ny my Friend

Me holding my Angel in her blessing dress. 
 I was very sad to find this picture
had stuck to another causing the damage.

So I had this extreme experience with people I really didn't know.  I loved that little baby and I wanted to hold her and love her and take care of her, but I couldn't.  I didn't have any power.  I wasn't a relative or a best friend.  I didn't even know how long I would live in that town.  I was able to see that baby while Dusty lived with her sister, Tammy.  I came to love the feel of a curled up baby sleeping on my chest.  I loved the weight of her tiny body and the warmth of her soft cheek against my skin.  This was the first time I had experienced such feelings.

Unfortunately, a terrible set of events happened while I was partnered with Sister H, that was how she got fodder for the rumors that came to bite me on the butt later in my mission.  I fought to decide if I really wanted to be a follower of Jesus Christ.  I was confronted with a choice and I had to decide what I wanted.  I had a strange idea that the way people treated me was the same as what God thought of me.  I couldn't lie to the people on my mission and say that God loved them when I didn't feel for myself.  I was searching.  I did find what I was looking for and I started the next hill in my journey.  It was then that I decided that I would reach for a higher purpose.  I decided to follow Christ.

I kind of lost track of Dusty and Angel.  I 'm not sure how I found them again, but I remember that they had move to an apartment close to us.  Dusty and Cory had moved in together, so to see the baby I had to deal with him.  He kind of scared me with all the bad things I had heard as gossip, but I wanted to see the baby.  I had sister G. at this time and I don't know if she comprehended the connection I felt. 

It's funny to me because we ended up teaching Cory.  It just happened.  I really like Cory.  He was very intelligent.  He was very interested in religion and had spent time touring Europe studying different text.  He told us he spent time at the Vatican doing  research.  His favorite past time was to invite different missionaries or priests to his home and slam them with the illogical facts that they presented.  He loved to argue and he knew just the right buttons to push to get the religious representative really, really mad.  I remembered the horrible argument the Elders had with him and knew he was good at his purpose.

I didn't take the bait.  I remember one specific conversation with Cory.  He said, "I heard that Joseph Smith is a drunk and liar."  I knew what story he was misquoting about Joseph Smith, who was the first modern day prophet for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  My first thought was to  defend such an ignorant statement, but then a different way popped into my head.
                                "Well, I know that has been said about Joseph Smith, but would you like to read his words about his life." 
                                 "What are you talking about?"
                                  "I have his written History in my set of scriptures.  You can read it and judge for yourself."

And he did.  He read everything we gave him.  Instead of formal lessons we talked.  We had conversation and we would address his concerns.  It was the only time I felt needed as a missionary.  I felt like I was in the right place and at the right time.  I felt that they need my specific personality to learn and grow from.  I wasn't pushing them. I wasn't trying to convince them.  I just knew the next step.

Cory did everything we asked.  He stopped all drugs.  He study the scriptures and he changed.  I saw a light come into him.  It was actually harder for Dusty.  She was so jaded by the members of the church.  I remember setting in the kitchen with the baby while she made dinner.  Dusty express her disgust at the members who pretended to be good,  She couldn't stand knowing that these people were sleeping around and then allowed to enter into our sacred places.  I agreed totally, that was one of my problems with the church also.  I hate the hypocrisy.  It was an eye opener for me when I said, "They lied, Dusty.  The church leaders aren't going to check through your whole life.  It hurts when other abuse what you find important, but it doesn't discount the truth."

Cory was baptized into the Church.  Dusty and Cory were married with me and little Angel by their side.  I didn't know if this would last.  I didn't know if it would all fall apart because of the call of the drugs.  I did not know what the future held for them,but I was so grateful to be apart of their lives.  I felt responsible for them and I hoped that the other members of the church would take care of them, but I also knew that their was nothing more I could do.

I was transferred to Billings Montana.  Infact the Sister missionaries were withdrawn from that area and the apartment closed down.  I wrote to Dusty every week.  She wrote back for a while and then the letters stopped.  Then my letter were returned.

I started having my own problems popping up.  I ended up leaving from Billing to recover my feet at home for 3 months.  I thought I could get in contact with Dusty through her sister, Tammy, but then Tammy and family moved away.  The area was eventually reopened.  I asked a sister who had served there if they had met Dusty or Cory at church and the answer was no.  I lost them.

That baby will be 15 years old this year.  I don't know if I want to see or meet her.  She is so important to me as that little baby.  I don't want to bear the sorrow of hearing that everything went wrong.  It was so wonderful for that short time.  I want to always kept that memory alive in myself.